When I launched this site back in June, I didn’t exactly expect it to get much attention. I really just made it as a place to have somewhat of a gallery of my work for Offroad Junkies, as well as a place to post some random stuff that I felt wouldn’t generate many views for Offroad Junkies. Well, I decided that I really enjoy WordPress (for those of you who don’t know, this site is made via WordPress, basically it’s a blogging thing and it’s really cool). Eventually I started posting my videos here and the site began to get more views than my Vision Moto site ever did.

As time wore on I decided to scale Vision Moto back to a video only program. The success of my involvement with Offroad Junkies and now this site lead to this decision. Now, I’ve been shooting and editing videos for over 4 years now and have been running what’s known as Vision Moto for about 3 years. How did this all come about? Well, back in 2006 I recorded a few video clips onto a digital camera at the Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC, I went home, opened up Windows Movie Maker and put together a little video. It’s actually still on YouTube by the way.

Eventually that all just evolved into Vision Moto. This year when Offroad Junkies was reinvented by Rob Mitchell and Charkie Huegel, I got involved with the site as well. I had never really done much in the way of writing any articles but I gave it a shot and apparently people liked some what I wrote. I then just started writing more and more, and while I could still use a little work here and there, I feel like I do a decent job at it. The way I see it is, it’s a lot like editing video. You’re basically sitting down and creating something that you want to grab people’s attention with.

Now, I’ve been asked “how do you come up with this stuff” and well, I’m honestly not sure. If you’ve read many of my feature articles for Offroad Junkies, you know that I tend to write a lot about some kind of ‘deep’ subjects. It’s a lot about the culture and lifestyle that us racers live. I do this because I feel like it gets the readers to think. It also seems as if it makes them feel good about their life as a racer, and for me, that’s huge.

I don’t really see myself as an overly creative person. Some of you who have watched many of my videos may disagree but that’s just throwing together clips of guys riding. So some of you may wonder where exactly the inspiration for these articles comes from. Well, I don’t really draw inspiration from one thing or another, it’s usually just something that sparks.

Sometimes I’ll just sit and think, then come up with something that I think would make a cool article. Other times I’ll be talking to someone and maybe something they say will spark it. I was recently talking to someone I went to school with who doesn’t ride, and they were asking me about some racing stuff and when I explained the challenges, they asked “Why subject yourself to the pain?”. “Why”. That one word sparked something.

It’s a little different with the videos. My videos tend to be the same. Intro, then when the music hits, the action starts. A lot of my intros are some sort of shot of the starting line or the sky and some trees. When I’m out in the woods shooting video, something will occasionally spark. That’s where my intros come from.

I get bored with my videos. I really do. Most of them I watch once and hate it. Therefore, I try to get creative angles when I’m shooting. Most of the time it never turns out the way I want it to and I end up thinking it looks dumb, but people like it.

Music selection sucks. This is the hardest part for me. No matter what, someone won’t like it and they’re not afriad to tell you that your song choice sucked.

Truth is, I love this stuff. Even with the lagging computer, slow saving and uploads, and me just generally getting pissed, I still enjoy bringing the race coverage to the riders.

Same goes for the articles. It’s like the videos, except you don’t have to stress about music choices, letting it save with good settings and everything else.

The downside to being on this side of the racing scene is, the opportunities for actually racing come few and far between. I still love to race. Honestly, if I could race every race I go to and still be as successful at covering the races, then I would totally do it. The sad truth is, it’s just near impossible to balance both.

There’s no doubt that I’m way better at this media stuff than I am at actually racing. A while back I saw that I had to make a choice. I chose this side because I feel like I have a better chance of making a career out of it. Yes, I do miss racing full time but for once I was thinking about the long term. So far it’s proved to be a good choice since I’ve been given the opportunity to shoot the final GNCC events this season with RacerTV.

Maybe one day it will all lead to something bigger. I can only hope, right?